Winch....which....winch

[Eddie Auckland]

Okay, so the next logical mod to my old 80 Series LC is a winch. It had one at some point, I think, has a TJM winch bar in any case (I think that this may be relevant).

Okay, so I understand the technical differences between hydraulic, electric and PTO as well as the various limitations (such as needing the engine running for PTO and hydraulic)...

My question is two-fold:
1: What do most folk run or select if they are starting from (relative) scratch?
2: What size is best (or ideal) for a large truck.

I would prefer to make a sound decision up front and not need to re-invest in the future. Also planning on doing more "serious" 4wd-ing in the future, joining a club, etc.

Happy to soak up any advise you may have!

Cheers, Eddie

[coxsy]

24v - 12000lb winch will do you good

[Sadam_Husain]

My question is two-fold:
1: What do most folk run or select if they are starting from (relative) scratch?
2: What size is best (or ideal) for a large truck.

1. I dont run one but bang for buck usually seems to be runva, chinese but pretty reliable compared amongst most winches out there, competitively priced and good NZ backup and support


2. for a heavier truck you want a higher rated winch, 9500 or 12000 pound, they all have the same motors but the higher rated winches are lower geared which make them a bit slower but shit you've got all day to pull your truck out its not a race

[Crash bandicoot]

yeap. hydraulic is good but a little technical with the set up, pto is the go if you have/or can get your hands on a cruiser box with pto.

electric as above 9500/12000 pounder with a dual battery set up is the next one in line.

one things for sure though. a winch is only as good as the point its anchored too... and thats both ends a good bar set up and a ground anchor if you like beach/sand dune work

[crazyclark31]

for your turck you want to get a 12000pd runva. the old man has one on his 80 and reckons its waaayyyy better than the warn he had previously. They are very well made and super reliable.

[Jerry]

factory 80 series ones come up on tm occasionally

[Sawdoc]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-par ... 610883.htm

[Mudde1]

For an 80 Series LC you will need a 12V. It has 2 battery s and a 24 volt starter, but winches are 12 v running off the right hand battery.

[Eddie Auckland]

For an 80 Series LC you will need a 12V. It has 2 battery s and a 24 volt starter, but winches are 12 v running off the right hand battery.

Thanks for that. Mine is only 12V, running one battery at the moment, if I go the electric route will install another battery for it.

Cheers for the comments guys, pretty much along the lines I was thinking. Only thing that surprises me is the reputation of the Runwa. I would have expected more Superwinch/Warn supporters!

[mike21]

I would recomend a factory 8o series winch over nearly any electric winch but being generally hard to find and expensive, i wouldn't go past a Runva winch. I've had 4 of them on different trucks and never had an issue with any of them, one was on a 70 series comp/bush truck. It had the crap thrashed out of it and it never let me down. This was a few years ago and the winches being sold by Winch.co.nz are geting better and better definitly worth looking at.(the back up service is also great)
My 2cents

[petefj40]

Everyone will have their own opinion. And they are all valid.
My 2c worth says, go for a brand that is tried and trusted, good back up service and parts readily available.

I'd go the extra mile and do it once, do it right. I invested in a 12V Talon 12,500lb Superwinch for my 80.

[evilknieval69]

My 2c worth says, go for a brand that is tried and trusted, good back up service and parts readily available.

Yea, like a runva they have definitely been tested, they have very good backup service, parts are readily available, and they don't have the wanky price tag that warn/super winch has. Unless you are planning to do full on extreme 4wd and/or comps, then you don't need to spend that much.

[Eddie Auckland]

Unless you are planning to do full on extreme 4wd...

Thanks for the comment on Runva, what would you define as extreme 4wd? For example, I plan to do the likes of the Thompson track in the future. Seems like hard yakka, where the winch is used a lot! Also planning on more club outings. Truck is rough, so not precious. Does the likes of Thompson's track qualify as "extreme 4wd" or is that pretty run-of-the-mill?

[crazyclark31]

Can't say if its extreme but it will be getting up there as a winch work out.
I know i'll get a flamin, but imo, going by our experiances down here you wont get much better than a runva.
Dad had a warn before his runva and was always having problems with water in motor, solinoid problems and some werid and wonderful noises coming from g/box.
runvas are well sealed,the solinoid is very good quality and they work properly every time.
To me when you buy a warn/superwinch your only buying the name.
Unless you spend the 3-4k on the really flash models.

Is your truck a petrol? All the 80s i've ever seen have had 2 batteries as they have 24v starters and then switch to 12v running

[bob_or_jim]

I too only have good things to say about the Runva, I pulled it to bits after 2 years of use including alot of under water use and it was bone dry inside. In the process of pulling it to bits I busted an insulator. E mailed winch.co.nz and had a new end cover including instulator in no time.

For a good quality winch to come with Plasma rope, sealed relay box and remote control for $735 it almost seems too good to be true!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/other-accessories/auction-555240187.htm

If I were you ide either fit the 9500lb or the 12000lb Runva and forget about it.

M2C

[Sadam_Husain]

despite asking which winch it sounds like you're already swayed towards superwinch or warn so by all means go and buy one there good winches that have been around for a long time but dont forget they still suffer from the same water ingestation, cooked motors, overheated brakes, melted cables and failure etc the same as any other low mount winch, if you've got the budget and $4.5k burning a hole in your pocket and want reliability forget about low mount winches and go grab a warn 8274 high mount the're are good robust reliable winches if you want to go doing hard shit in your big 3 ton bus and if you want to start throwing some money at it and get it really performing you can always go to a gigglepin or other twin motor set up for it, other than doing a minor mod to stop the brake blowing off the side under load they have a reputation for churning over year after year, I've got one down in the shed I used for 5-6 years trouble free other than a couple of new motors. Unless your only intending occasional use throw the steel cable away if it comes with one and stick a dymeema rope on it it'll make life much easier when you spend 8 hours winching accross a hundred metres up thompsons make sure you've got a big CCA battery and upgrade all the battery cables to a heavier gauge to keep the resistance down to stop everything cooking and melting

your choice but I still think runva is best bang for buck reliability and cost for a first winch

[Eddie Auckland]

despite asking which winch it sounds like you're already swayed towards superwinch or warn

Thanks for your comments! To be honest, I was just a little surprised. I had (clearly incorrectly) assumed prior to my posting that you fellas would be rubbishing the Chinese stuff and trying to convince me to buy a Warn or Superwinch! I am being swayed, that is for sure, the price differential alone is a massive factor!

Your other comments are bang on. It looks most likely that I will be going electric and the 12,000lb Runva looks like a solid first winch. Planning on buying a 660CCA second battery (I have a diesel NZ New Cruiser which is only 12V) and was planning on literally using welding cables, with an isolator between the batteries.

[bob_or_jim]

Sounds like you have it sorted. 50mm2 cable is ideal for this but be carefull with your isolator as there only rated to 450amp I belive. Just hook them up in parallel and they should be fine. Ive only ever had 1 640cca batt on mine and never had troubles so your 2 should be mint.